Playtime

Eckelkamp Verleih | Release Date: June 27, 1973

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

99	METASCORE Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Roger Ebert

Instead of plot it has a cascade of incidents, instead of central characters it has a cast of hundreds, instead of being a comedy it is a wondrous act of observation. It occupies no genre and does not create a new one. It is a filmmaker showing us how his mind processes the world around him. Read full review

100

Vincent Canby

Jacques Tati's most brilliant film, a bracing reminder in this all-too-lazy era that films can occasionally achieve the status of art. Read full review

100

G. Allen Johnson

Playtime is sharp and colorful, and visually makes quite an impression. Read full review

100

Eric Henderson

With Playtime, Tati made one of the most fully inhabitable films ever. Read full review

100

Dave Calhoun

French actor-filmmaker Jacques Tati’s 1967 masterpiece still holds up as a feast of subtle sight gags, playful noise and, above all, visual wonders. Read full review

100

Keith Phipps

Tati's most elaborate film, Playtime stands as his masterpiece, an awe-inspiring work of intricate choreography with a heart to match its technical expertise. Read full review

100

Jonathan Rosenbaum

In this landscape everyone is a tourist, but Tati suggests that once we can find one another, we all belong. Read full review

100

D.W. Mault

Playtime attacks the good taste of understanding by making you understand the importance of both absence and presence that coexists in a modern shared public space and a gradually disappearing private space. Read full review

100

David Jenkins

For my money it is the greatest film ever made. Read full review

100

Dave Kehr

The most visually inventive film of the 60s is also one of the funniest. Read full review

100

EmpireDavid Parkinson

Comedy has rarely been so intricate, incisive and inspired. Read full review

100

Michael Wilmington

Totally original and personal, this is a vast modern comic/poetic epic, lyrical, austere and strange. Despite its failure, Playtime is now regarded by many critics as one of the century's film masterpieces. [09 Jan 1998, p.M]

100

Kevin Thomas

Never was Tati's mastery of sound effects more inspired than in Playtime, a commercial disaster at the time of its release that nevertheless may be Tati's true masterpiece. [14 May 1998, p.F18]

100

William Arnold

The carefully conceived mayhem that ensues is understated and subtle, but always highly original and frequently quite brilliant. [04 Jun 2004]

100

The TelegraphStaff (Not Credited)

Jacques Tati's plot-free masterpiece is a long way from the crowd-pleasing comedy of Mr Hulot's Holiday, but patient viewers will be rewarded by a mesmerising symphony of sight gags and social observation. [24 Aug 2010, p.34]

Richard Brody

Emotions, identities, and even bodily functions are distorted by the mechanized uniformity, but Tati’s despair is modulated by a sense of wonder. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Tati is not an active satirist nor does he use slapstick. He has assimilated the greats but is an individual comic talent who builds meticulous gags founded on a gentle, anarchic individualism that is always sympathetic, personal and, above all, funny and constantly inventive. Read full review

The GuardianPeter Bradshaw

Playtime offers us an even clearer view of the contrast between Tati’s broad physical comedy as an actor and his superbly cerebral detachment as a director. Read full review

James Berardinelli

It’s a must-see for those with a penchant for droll, avant-garde cinema or anyone fascinated more by technique than narrative. For others, it’s more of a curiosity than a can’t-miss production – a film that may fascinate for a while before starting to seem repetitive and overlong. Read full review